Final Project

SELF-EVALUATION
MARK ASSIGNED TO MYSELF: 85% +

As seen in my blog, my graduating project was to film an experimental music video. As a student of the cinema/video/communications program it is quite evident that this project is easily relatable to my program of study. In my program we often watch a variety of movies and shorts and analyze their meaning. We analyze the style of the film and discuss the techniques the director used in order to get their message across. By doing this I have developed my ability to think critically about what I see on a screen. This helped me while I was shooting my own short because it allowed me to visualize what my project would look like when completed. These skills also helped me develop a style and technique of filming which I used during the filming of my video.

My the purpose of my project was to convey the idea of communication without using words. The dance in my video features two dancers who meet for the first time and their interactions together. the way they communicate is left to movements and the way they can read each other’s body motion. The secondary purpose of my project was to demonstrate my capability to direct and produce something. Seeing as this is something I would like to do with my future I took this opportunity to direct for the first time and test my strengths and weaknesses as a director.

In the end I am generally satisfied with the final result of my project. The overall vision for what my project would look like came true. I am particularly proud of the cinematography in my project that were made possible thanks to the help of a friend. In terms of cinematography we used a few tricks and techniques in order to get the look I wanted. For example, the light flair seen in my video is done by taping a small piece of fishing wire to the inside of the lens so that the light reflects of it. I was also able to get some motion in my shots with the help of a slider which I rented from the school. I was able to get the perfect type of location that I envisioned and the two perfect dancers for this style.

If given the opportunity to re-do this project I would make some minor changes. The first thing that comes to mind is the choreography. Since it took me over a month to find dancers willing to take part in my project it was too late to have a fully planned out choreography which made filming and editing difficult. Since we did not have a choreography fully planned out filming was a little slower than I would have liked which forced us to cut our day short once we ran out of light. It is because of this that I unfortunately was not able to get all the shots I would have liked. Despite this issue I am still satisfied with the end result.

Participating in a student-run project is very “up and down”. It has a lot of lows but the highs are wonderful. What I mean by this is that it is very difficult to put things like this together on a student budget. It is also difficult to find people that are willing to work for free and are willing to dedicate their time to your project. Relying on other people for your project can bring a great deal of stress but finding the right people can bring amazing results.

My over all experience in this Integrative Activity course was a positive one. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the progress of my own work and my classmates’ work. I enjoyed being able to watch the ideas of my classmates’ grow and develop throughout the school year. I was respectful to all my classmates and offered my help and advice when needed. On top of offering advice I also helped out some students financially but applying for the Dawson Student Union’s Special Project Funding. I applied for this with the intention that any students in class could benefit from it. Once it was approved I spoke to a couple of classmates whom I knew needed some extra cash or needed to be reimbursed for some money that was already spent on equipment or props. I feel that this initiative greatly helped my project as well as the projects of those who chose to take part in the application. I feel one of my strengths throughout this was my ability to network and organize myself in order to attain the goals I had set out for myself. Whenever a road block appeared I found a way past it. For example, when I first looked into the location of my shoot the price quoted to me was $700, it was through the Special Project Funding and negotiations that I was able to afford a goof location for only $300. Another road block I faced was finding dancers for my video. This was by far one of the most challenging obstacles in my project. It was through a long line of phone calls and connections with various dance studios that I was finally able to find the right dancers. My main weakness throughout this class is my punctuality and attendance. I feel that I was often late or absent due to late nights of work and high levels of stress. I made my best effort to show up on time and participate in as many class discussions as possible but sometimes my best effort still came up short. In the future I will have to avoid this situation by better time management. In general I believe I have learned a lot from my experience as well as from my peers. I would like to think that my peers also appreciated my help and advice as I did take the time to speak to some of my peers individually and offer some pointers as well as offering my time to help film and/or edit their projects.